Family delivers "baby' to capital

Now, the Douglas fir grown by the Shealers of Schuylkill County is in the White House.

November 30, 2000|By JEFF MILLER Of The Morning Call

Paul and Sharon Shealer grinned like proud parents Wednesday as first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton thanked them for the Douglas fir that will be this year's White House Christmas tree.

"That's our baby," said Paul Shealer, who runs Evergreen Acres Tree Farm with his wife and two teen-age children near Auburn in Schuylkill County. "This is perhaps the highest honor you can achieve as a Christmas tree grower."

The baby is a perfectly shaped 181/2-foot tree that might weigh as much as 700 pounds. On Monday, it will stand in the White House Blue Room as the centerpiece for a month of holiday celebrations in the most famous residence in America.

Volunteers will begin to decorate the tree and house today. The tree will be strung with 2,700 lights and adorned with ornaments created by artists around the country. Quilters from all 50 states made the green velvet tree skirt.

"This is part of history," said Sharon Shealer, a career counselor at a vocational-technical school. "Our names are going to be in the history books for the year 2000."

Paul, Sharon and their children, Paul, 16, and Briana, who turned 18 on Wednesday, work together to make Evergreen Acres a success. Paul Shealer's father started the farm in 1945.

Christmas trees were a $35 million industry in Pennsylvania in 1997, when only Oregon sold more trees, according to the National Christmas Tree Association.

The association, whose grand champion tree growers have supplied White House Christmas trees since 1966, said the Shealers' tree is the fourth to come from Pennsylvania and the first since 1989.

Paul Shealer said he had looked forward to this day for years, grooming a number of trees to meet White House specifications.

This tree was planted 20 years ago as a 3-year-old sapling. Eight years ago, Shealer tagged the tree with a white ribbon to mark its potential.

Three White House staff members who went to Evergreen Acres to help select the tree found the ribbon when they examined its trunk. The Shealers won the right to donate the tree after taking first place in state and national contests with two other trees from their farm.

After cutting it Sunday, the Shealers wrapped the tree and transported it to Washington in a converted boat trailer behind Paul's pickup truck, which he drove through the White House gates.

For Wednesday's ceremony, the tree, still bound in its protective canvas wrapping, was carted up the curved driveway to the South Portico in a green horse-drawn wagon with red steel wheels. More than another dozen trees covered the lawn, destined for other White House rooms.

"Thank you so much for donating this and bringing this tree to the White House," Clinton said to the Shealers.

Asked by reporters about the presidential election, Clinton said she believes the courts should settle all the issues raised by George W. Bush and Al Gore in their lawsuits. "Then there won't be any questions or any issues to be raised afterward," she said.

The first lady grew wistful, however, when asked about her feelings toward her eighth and last Christmas in the White House. "It's a moment of great nostalgia," said Clinton, who will become New York's newest U.S. senator in January. "We've always loved Christmas."

Clinton, who just published a book about the White House on its 200th anniversary, said she was surprised to learn that Christmas planning takes an entire year to create the themes, decorations, menus and even the holiday cards. "I'm going to miss being part of that," she said.

Clinton invited the Shealers into the Family Dining Room for tea and cookies, surprising Briana Shealer with a small birthday cake. "I'm just awestruck," Shealer said.

It was like Christmas in November for the whole family.

Along with their memories, they'll be able to watch themselves on Home & Garden Television in December for a special on Christmas at the White House. The program will be broadcast four times Dec. 23-25.

But Paul Shealer said he's not finished.

"This is doable again," he said, still grinning from ear to ear. "I also have thoughts of putting a tree in the rotunda in the [Pennsylvania] Capitol."